Judge grants injunction, blocks open carry in Mississippi (VIDEO)

Starting on today, law-abiding Mississippians were supposed to be allowed to openly carry a loaded firearm without a permit — however, a state judge granted a temporary injunction that prevented the law from taking effect, citing concerns that the law lacked clarity.

Judge Kidd has scheduled a hearing for July 8 to re-debate the open carry law, a decision that was praised by Hinds County District Attorney Robert Schuler Smith, who filed the motion requesting the injunction on Friday.

“We do believe there are several issues that have to be explored to see whether or not the legislature was allowed to vote and regulate on anything other than concealed weapons,” Smith told the AP.

State Sen. John Horhn (D-Jackson) also backed the move, noting that when he voted for the law he thought it would only clarify the definition of concealed carry and not permit open carry without a permit.

“The interpretation is that by putting that change in the law you allow open carry, and we don’t believe that the constitution provides for open carry,” said Horhn.

Horhn wants the legislature to re-examine House Bill 2 to clear up any ambiguity concerning open carry and its application.

“The governor is probably not going to want to address this issue in a special session. We would hope that the courts would delay any sort of a ruling on this matter until such time that we can go back in the legislature in the next session,” said Horhn.

Yet, the governor’s office expressed disappointment with the ruling, especially considering the law’s popularity in both the state House and Senate.

“It is disappointing a Hinds County Chancery Court would overrule an overwhelming decision of the Mississippi Legislature and the governor,” a spokesperson for Gov. Phil Bryant said in a statement.

Attorney Stephen Stamboulieh, who helped draft the law, was also miffed by the injunction. He believes that the judge was influenced by pro-gun control lawmakers and advocates.

“Anti-gun politicians. That is the only answer. This is a side show. There is nothing vague about the definition of concealed,” Stamboulieh told local news affiliate WLBT.

Stamboulieh added that the National Rifle Association will likely file a brief seeking to overturn the injunction next week.

As Guns.com previously noted, the law is not that confusing. If one openly carries a firearm, he/she does not need a permit. If one opts for concealed carry, he/she needs a CCW permit. In both cases, that individual needs to be a law-abiding citizen (no felony convictions) who has never been adjudicated mentally defective and over the age of 21 (veterans 18 and over can qualify too).

Also mentioned in that Guns.com article was while there were some concerns about the application of the law amongst police officials throughout the state, at the end of the day, it seemed that the biggest concern isn’t the law itself, but firearms safety and training. That is, ensuring gun owners exercise this right responsibly.

“One of our main concerns with a citizen carrying a firearm, no matter under which law it is, that they are trained not only in the operation and functions of the firearm but when that person can deploy that firearm,” said Ward Calhoun, the chief deputy of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department.

“This is a huge responsibility for someone and they had better be clear on these and many other aspects of carrying a firearm otherwise it could lead to much more serious matters.”

As many Guns.com readers can attest, open carry is not a big deal. So it raises the questions: Why are some Mississippians making so much of a fuss over it?

They lost and are pissed about it. We can always count on gun control legislators using any and all options to get their way. The NJ legislature halted a vote in progress because (in the words of one of the lawmakers, "we don't have enough votes!")and then transferred the bill to a committee where they knew they could get it passed.
The problem is that in NJ, this was against the rules and no one is ever held accountable!
Here, it's just Democrats using the liberal leaning courts to get their way.

The problem with judges is that, if you shop long enough, you can always find one who agrees with you. That's how the "secret courts" operate. And it explains how the government keeps getting 90-day renewals from a "secret judge" to continue their unconstitutional spying.

Note to Sen. John Horhn, please come to east Tennessee so I can slap the tooth out of your mouth, being from Mississippi you probably only have one left anyway. Yes the Constitution does allow ANY form of carry you communist piece of crap!

I will give the POS a ride up there for you to do that but you got to c'mon with that tooth loss crap....I can't help that the news channel always finds the most unhygienic redneck out of the bunch to represent us BUT, we ain't all that way......hey, wait,,,,,You from TN. ,,,you ain't got room to talk! lmao!

Lol Mike! I actually have most of mine,,, minus the wisdom teeth the Army removed from me, without any pain killers. I highly recommend not going that route, getting them knocked out would have been less painful I do believe! And I usually reserve the one tooth joke to those unfortunate people from Alabama. I have several close relatives who live just outside Picayune, and I do love Mississippi!

Hmmmm.... well the US constitution has nothing about any kind of carry, so I would say that open carry is constitutionsl and Mississippi Constitution Article III, Section 12 states "The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but the legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons." So their constitution only talks about concealed carry, nothing about open carry or that concealed is the only option.

Hinds county is basically just Jackson, where gang thugs have no problem with carrying illegally, but we can't have law-abiding citizens carrying, someone might shoot one of the poor little bastards, instead of getting robbed/raped/murdered.

State AG has already filed an appeal with the MS Supreme Court to overrule the injunction and the libs have until 5pm to answer. This should be resolved in the next day or so with the injunction lifted. Also this was not a state judge, but a county judge , so his ruling only applies to Hinds county.

A dipshit Liberal leaning judge, a dumbass Democrat Senator, and a deputy dawg Deputy Sheriff have spoken....OVER the State Legislators and the Governor. Try as you may, the people will win in the end.